Tesco plant-based burger ad pulled over “misleading” claims about the planet

08 Jun 2022 --- The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has resolved that a 2021 Tesco ad regarding its own brand Plant Chef plant-based burger was “likely to mislead” the public. The claims under scrutiny were that the burger had “positive environmental differences to the planet compared to their meat equivalents.”

ASA ruled that these ads must not appear again in their current form and for Tesco not to make unsubstantiated claims about their products in the future.

“Because we had not seen evidence…that demonstrated that Plant Chef products could make a positive environmental difference to the planet compared to their meat equivalents, nor had we seen evidence for the full life cycle of the Plant Chef burger, we concluded the claims regarding their positive benefits to the planet had not been substantiated,” concludes ASA.

This resolution comes after the watchdog called for greater resources and harsher penalties, like fines, earlier this year. After an international analysis of websites found that 40% of all green claims, across multiple industries, made online could be misleading. 

In response to Asa’s determination a Tesco’s spokesperson commented:

“We offer hundreds of plant-based options and while we are disappointed by this outcome, our customers can continue to count on us to help them enjoy a better balanced diet with plenty more delicious and affordable plant-based products in the pipeline.”

The ASA resolution comes after the watchdog called for greater resources and harsher penalties for infractors, earlier this year.Product lifecycle
ASA investigated the ad, which was launched on UK TV, radio, press, a tweet and Tesco’s website, that showcased how the supermarket bolstered the product as “making a difference.”

The TV ad, for example, featured a woman about to eat a burger while watching TV. The program she was watching said: 

“The planet is continuing to warm,” after which the voice-over said, “Now that’s not what Zoe likes to hear, but she’s gonna roll up her sleeves and do her bit […] and there it is, a delicious Tesco plant chef burger.” 

The ad also announced how Tesco slashed prices on “dozens of our Plant Chef products because a little swap can make a difference to the planet.”

While Tesco relied on general evidence that plant-based diets have lower emissions, ASA resolves that they did not hold any evidence “in relation to the full lifecycle [emissions] of any of the products in the Plant Chef range.”

“We were therefore unable to assess the product’s total environmental impact over its life cycle compared with that of a meat burger,” states the ASA.

“We also recognized that specific plant-based products, particularly processed products which could contain a number of different ingredients sourced from around the world, could nevertheless contain ingredients or be produced and transported by methods that had a high carbon or negative environmental impact,” explains the watchdog. 

All about pricesAn analysis of websites found that 40% of all green claims, across multiple industries, made online could be misleading.
The UK regulator says that Tesco’s “key focus” of the ad was primarily to showcase its low prices.

“Tesco said their internal customer insight showed price was one of the customers' biggest barriers to purchasing and consuming more plant-based foods. So to make plant-based eating more accessible, they reduced the prices of products in the range,” explains ASA.

”We considered the focus of all the ads was to promote the Tesco Plant Chef range, as highlighted by the claim that “We’ve lowered the price of dozens of Plant Chef products,” rather than to promote a move to eating a more plant-based diet generally,” continues ASA.

The association notes that the ad did not provide information to substantiate the claims regarding the environmental benefit of the Plant Chef burger over a meat burger.

Tesco’s defense
According to the ASA, Tesco defends that its message was not supposed to be an absolute environmental claim, nor claiming that the products were wholly sustainable or good for the planet. Tesco says the ads made a limited postulate as to the marginal gain and improvement of the planet.

By saying in the ads “a little swap can make a difference” or “she’s making a difference, not by much, but every little,” Tesco defends that “little” is important to determine the breadth of its claims. 

“They said they were not claiming that the products were sustainable or good in and of themselves, but that by eating plant-based products, as opposed to meat-based, consumers could make a small or “little” difference,” says ASA.

According to the watchdog, Tesco admitted that although some of the Plant Chef products contained ingredients that would have been imported from other countries, according to the scientific studies they had considered, the presence of imported ingredients did not negate the environmental benefits created by those products. 

By Marc Cervera